Portable flash card recording

I am looking at Marantz PMD-660 and M-Audio Microtrack. The M-Audio is $100 cheaper, supports 24/96 recording, while the Marantz is 16/48. The Marantz has XLR inputs. I am not as concerned about 16/48 compared to 24/96-- I've never heard 24/96 and I don't know if I would be able to tell the difference. I don't have anything serious planned with this, I just want good quality recordings. Taking these things into consideration, I would go with the Marantz.

But looking at the specifications each gives:
Marantz has
-Signal-to-noise ratio LINE 80 dB
IEC-A weighted MIC 60 dB
-Total harmonic distortion LINE 0.06%
at 0VU PCM MIC 0.15
-Dynamic range 80 dB

That seems terrible compared to what M-Audio says about it's player:
-1/4" Mic/Line Inputs
-Signal-to-Noise Ratio: -100dB, A-weighted
-Dynamic Range: 100dB, A-weighted
-THD+N: 0.003% (-90dB) @ -1dBFS, 1kHz

What is the benefit of having XLR mic if it is 60dB SNR?? Isn't that really poor?